Seven of the eight slots in Bellator Fighting Championship’s season-two eight-man featherweight tournament are now filled with the organization’s signing of former IFL fighter and NCAA Division III national wrestling champion Shad Lierley.

Lierley (5-2), who’s undefeated (5-0) at featherweight, makes his second appearance for Bellator.

The 29-year-old most recently competed at Bellator IX in May 2009, when he defeated Nathan Murdock via unanimous decision in a non-tournament fight.

Bellator’s second season commences in April with live Thursday-night events on FOX Sports Net Affiliates.

Lierley perhaps is best known for his legendary June 2007 fight with IFL star Chris Horodecki. Lierley suffered the decision loss but challenged the then-undefeated fighter like no other opponent had. Aside from that loss, Lierley’s only other defeat came to current WEC contender and former IFL champ Wagnney Fabiano at an April 208 IFL event. Both losses came at lightweight, a weight class above his usual 145-pound division.

Lierley, a a four-time state high school wrestling finalist in Alaska who won a NCAA Division III national championship at New York University, earned a spot with the IFL’s Seattle Tiger Sharks despite having no pro fights.

“When I started college, I never planned to get involved in MMA, but it’s what I fell into, and I couldn’t be happier,” Lierley stated. “There are a lot of well-educated people who have a lot of options in front of them, and they choose fighting. It’s a great sport, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Lierley is riding a three-fight win streak since the IFL disbanded in 2008.

Bellator will announce the final tournament participant in the coming weeks.

In addition to live shows on FSN, Bellator season-two and season-three programming also airs via highlights packages on NBC and Telemundo.

The Latest

Sure, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey ran through yet another opponent in less than a minute, but that wasn’t the only story that mattered at UFC 190. Relive the memorable moments from Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena.

Since the early days when the sport was anything but a mainstream endeavor, the MMA industry has thrived and survived through various websites, forums and, perhaps most importantly, social-media platforms.

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?